SAME OLD SQUABBLING FOLLOWS NEW MAYOR

When I heard that Mary Laveratt was taking over as mayor of Oakland Park, I decided to drop by and see her sworn in.

After all, I had heard that she was a controversial figure who has sparked bickering among her fellow council members -- and even in her audiences.

It looked as though this meeting would make for a pretty interesting show.

Laveratt previously had allies on the City Council, including Catherine Thompson, Charles Howard and Glenn Dufek. But those three were defeated in last year's elections.

So now she is outnumbered by council members Robert Pisano, H. Keneth Powell, Caryl Stevens and James Loss, none of whom are in her corner.

On the night of Laveratt's mayoral debut, City Hall was packed. People were even standing outside the council chambers, pacing and looking in through glass doors.

Laveratt made a grand entrance, to the accompaniment of loud applause, hugs and kisses from supporters. They gave her flowers and cards, and captured her with cameras and video recorders.

She wore a crisp blue suit with a white lacy-collar blouse. She made her way down the aisle of the council chambers, smiling, saying hello to everyone. She even said hello to me and I was impressed with her charm.

Eventually, the rest of the council members made a somber entrance, with none of the same hoopla.

The evening's program called for Laveratt to be sworn in as mayor after conducting a few items of business.

Unfortunately, the first item of business alone took an hour and a half to debate, something about easements and property lines.

It very nearly put the audience to sleep.

Laveratt tried her best to liven things up. She scolded some attorneys for being unsure of the applicable law. "It seems these professional people are somewhat confused," she said.

Even Pisano unsuccessfully tried to break the monotony. He temporarily interrupted the agenda to bestow hats and plaques to the Oakland Park Over 60 baseball champs.

The council members went on to feud over several other points. The audience was getting antsy, waiting for the swearing-in ceremony.

Laveratt again picked up the tempo. Before being sworn in as mayor, she grabbed the gavel when Pisano, mayor to that point, temporarily left the room.

"I have the gavel now," she shouted at Loss when he tried to make a point on a management efficiency study. "You can make your comments after the public hearing."

Then things really started to drag when council members argued whether they should put a time limit of midnight on their meetings, as previous arguments have caused them to take meetings well into the small hours of the morning.

They quarreled for 10 minutes before approving the time limit. At one point, they quibbled for five minutes over the order of the agenda.

After nearly three hours, I started entertaining myself by counting ceiling fans (three), public-address speakers (six), vents (six), lights (23, three of which were out) and chairs (90).

Finally, Pisano made his outgoing statements. He asked his peers to grow up and work in harmony. "I will support Mrs. Laveratt whenever I possibly can," he said.

Then Laveratt was sworn in. In her opening statements, she said, "I'm looking forward to a new picture in Oakland Park." She also said she felt it was healthy for council members to have differing points of view.

Soon after, Laveratt and Pisano got into a heated spat over whether the new mayor should sign a couple of proclamations. Laveratt said she would not because of a new rule requiring all proclamations to be voted on by the entire council.

"I cannot believe that within 15 minutes of becoming mayor, you are saying that you will not sign a proclamation for National Library Week and Youth Day," Pisano said in disgust.

Powell wanted to put the matter to a vote and was getting impatient with Laveratt's slow parliamentary commands.

"The chair does not have the right to delay a question. You've delayed it seven minutes," he yelled. "You've got this meeting off to a great start."

We in the audience were at the edge of our seats, savoring this exchange. But then the arguing fell back to the routine, and it soon sounded just like the bickering that had gone on before Laveratt was named mayor.

Around 10:30 p.m., with a full two-thirds of the agenda still left to be hashed out, many members of the audience could take no more and began trickling out.

I was among them, as I did not find Oakland Park City Council all that entertaining. Rather, it was kind of boring.

Mary Laveratt may have a new role, but that political squabbling sure got old.